Dad, don't be greedy! My brother climbed into the emperor's bed, and I became famous overn

The Household Department of the Jingzhao Prefecture.

The clerk in charge of registering land deeds was surnamed Zhang, and he was a seasoned veteran with twenty years of experience.

What kind of shady dealings in buying and selling land haven't he seen?

Then they saw a young girl dressed in a blue cloth skirt and wearing only a plain silver hairpin walk into the room.

He didn't even bother to lift his eyelids.

"You mean that area in the west of the city?" He flipped through the yellow book and scratched the back of his head with the brush handle.

"The soil there is terrible, and it's been abandoned for almost ten years. There isn't even a decent road around it. Plus, it's right next to a disaster relief camp, so nobody dares to go there lately."

"How much do you want?" Gu Mingyue went straight to the point.

Clerk Zhang held up five fingers.

"The barren mountain, plus the flat land at its foot, totals eighty mu. The government has listed it for five thousand taels."

"To be honest, young lady, this price is only because there are still a few trees growing on that land. Normally, even three thousand taels wouldn't be enough to attract buyers."

Five thousand taels.

Gu Mingyue silently did the math in her mind.

A KPI of 100,000 taels is achieved by spending only 5,000 taels at a time.

Only five percent?

This money is being spent at a snail's pace! We need to increase the spending!

"Five thousand taels?" Gu Mingyue frowned.

Zhang, the clerk, assumed she thought it was too expensive, so he smiled, crossed his arms, leaned back in his chair, and tilted his chin up to look at her sideways.

"Of course, it's negotiable."

Gu Mingyue chuckled and chose a reception chair by the window to sit down.

"That's too little."

The clerk's brush fell onto the table with a "thud".

"Wh...what?"

"I said, five thousand taels is too little," Gu Mingyue said sincerely.

She pulled out a small golden abacus from her sleeve, which she had taken from her father's study before leaving the house.

"Snap snap snap"—a series of fiddling motions.

"When your government sends people to measure the land, shouldn't there be a service fee?"

Zhang the clerk nodded mechanically.

"Yes, that's true, but it's all included in..."

"Fifty taels for the errand fee." Gu Mingyue wrote it down neatly.

"Furthermore, you clerks copy land deeds, grind ink, cut paper, and stamp them. This is all mental labor, so you should be paid for it."

"The fee for writing is thirty taels."

"What?"

Zhang the clerk's mouth began to open wide uncontrollably.

"Official archives require storage space; storage management fee: twenty taels."

"The land deed requires the prefect's seal, which has alarmed my superiors. I'm asking for a fee of one hundred taels."

"By the way, the land information you just checked in the Yellow Register is also a form of professional consultation. The consultation fee is fifty taels."

Zhang the clerk's eyes were practically popping out of their sockets.

Gu Mingyue continued.

"Also, I want the stream next to that wasteland."

"A... a stream?" Zhang the clerk stammered. "Miss, a stream is a natural waterway and doesn't belong to any private individual."

"I don't want to buy the stream itself, I want to buy the right to use both banks of the stream. Five hundred taels."

"I also bought those few acres of wild tea fields on the hillside across the stream. Two thousand taels."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Zhang the clerk suddenly stood up. "That tea field has been abandoned for years, the tea trees are almost all dead! It's worth at most three hundred taels of silver."

"Two thousand taels." Gu Mingyue said without changing her expression. "What I value is its 'future appreciation potential'."

Clerk Zhang: "??? What potential for appreciation? Even rabbits don't bother to poop on that lousy tea plantation!!"

"The fact that the rabbits aren't there means the ecosystem is good and it's not polluted by animal feces. It's natural and organic, so it's more valuable. Add five hundred taels."

"!!!"

Zhang, the clerk, was completely dumbfounded.

He worked in the real estate industry for twenty years and witnessed countless buyers banging on the table and haggling over prices.

Which one of them wasn't a shrewd merchant who spent half a day arguing with the government just to save fifty taels of silver?

But these buyers who inflate their own prices...

This is truly unheard of! Unseen before!

Gu Mingyue finished flipping the abacus with a "clack clack clack" and pushed the final number in front of Zhang Shuli.

Let's summarize.

"Eighty mu of wasteland: five thousand taels."

"Delivery fee: fifty taels."

"Commission fee: thirty taels."

"Warehouse management fee: twenty taels."

"Request fee: one hundred taels."

Consultation fee: fifty taels.

"Right to use both banks of the stream: 500 taels."

"Tea field: 2,500 taels."

"Plus those surrounding unclaimed, wild mountains,"

"Wait!" Clerk Zhang raised his hand in alarm. "What unclaimed wild mountains?! Those mountains..."

"I bought it, and I get to decide the name of that mountain. The property rights are clear and there are no disputes."

Gu Mingyue smiled.

"I will charge three thousand taels for each of the seven wild mountains to be renamed."

"Seven seats...three thousand..." Zhang the clerk's brain had completely shut down.

He trembled as he turned the abacus, and after getting the final number, he almost slipped off his chair.

"Thirty...thirty thousand taels?!"

The writing brush in Zhang's hand fell to the table with a "clatter".

Thirty thousand taels?!

Buy a piece of wasteland that even stray dogs would avoid, plus a bald mountain, a broken stream, and a few acres of unwanted wild tea fields?

This feels like a trap has been set for him to fall into.

Zhang the clerk hesitated.

His eyes darted around, and he sprang up from his chair.

With a forced smile, he picked up the teapot on the table and poured a cup of tea for Gu Mingyue.

"Please have a seat, young lady!"

"Please have some tea! Excellent tea! This year's pre-rain Longjing!"

"This matter...I cannot make the decision on my own! I must consult my superiors!"

I will be right back.

Gu Mingyue lifted her eyelids, glanced at the registrar, and remained calm.

"Okay, go and come back quickly."

"Alright, that's settled!"

With a smile, Zhang the clerk cupped his hands in greeting and ran off in a flash.

……

at the same time.

The "Yue Ming" teahouse, located across the street from the backyard of the government office, has private rooms on the second floor.

Behind a half-open window, two men were looking down at the government office and watching the commotion.

The young man sitting in the main seat was about twenty-four or twenty-five years old, wearing an inconspicuous dark-colored robe with subtle patterns.

His features were deep and cold, with high brow bones and a pair of narrow phoenix eyes filled with a chilling aura that kept strangers at bay. His lips were taut and curved.

He exudes an aura of authority that suggests he can "cut anyone he doesn't like on the spot."

This man was Xiao Ye, the second emperor of the Dayong Dynasty.

Sitting opposite him was a man who was equally young, but with a completely different demeanor.

Unlike the emperor's outward domineering aura.

This person's overall demeanor is like a deep, ancient pool, calm on the surface but turbulent beneath.

His face was extremely handsome, with a playful, amused look in his eyes.

A pair of deep, peach-blossom eyes concealed countless schemes and secrets.

Her fingers were long and slender, casually turning the teacup lid, her knuckles distinct like jade bamboo.

He was the emperor's younger brother, Xiao Jue, whose title was "Prince of Qi".

He is widely recognized as a "smiling tiger" by both the government and the public.

At this moment, the two brothers are "fishing at the spot".

The "surprise inspection" by the Censorate three days later was a scheme orchestrated by the emperor himself.

The target was every greedy black hand reaching out along that disaster relief silver chain from Kyoto to Jiangzhou.

Right Chancellor Gu Debai was the fattest and biggest fish in his big net.